Klezmer is the instrumental folk music of European Jews. It was influenced by all the places where Jews of the Diaspora lived for centuries. Its sources include synagogue prayer melodies as well as songs and dances shared by Ukrainians, Romanians, Moldovans, Greeks, Turks, Poles, and Romani living in Hungary and elsewhere in Central Europe and Russia.
The word is a contraction of the Hebrew-Aramaic “kley” and “zemer,” meaning “vessel of song,” that is, the people who are the carriers of the music. Today, klezmer has come to mean more than just the performer of the music, and is recognized as a world music genre, capable of absorbing current trends of popular and world music.
In the U.S., the process of absorption goes back to the 19th century when Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe were influenced by American jazz. This blend persisted during the klezmer revival of the 1970s, but in recent years, the original, prejazz form is coming to the fore again. Among prominent revivalists: Josh Horowitz, Yale Strom, Bob Cohen, and Gerry Tenney.
Mandolinist and singer Tenney is president of the board at KlezCalifonia, the organization behind a number of upcoming events featuring klezmer music. Tenney will be performing at some of these events and the the festivities will also serve as release parties for his newest CD: Gerry Tenney & the California Klezmers: A Retrospective. The first event is Cabaret by the Bay at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael on Nov. 20, followed by the Yiddish Culture Festival at JCC East Bay in Berkeley on Dec. 4.The program of Cabaret by the Bay in Marin includes Book of J (Jewlia Eisenberg with Jeremiah Lockwood), Naomi Newman, Jake Marmer, Anthony Russell, and Veretski Pass (Cookie Segelstein, Joshua Horowitz, Stu Brotman).
In Berkeley, performers include Sara Felder, The Gonifs (Jeanette Lewicki, Sheldon Brown, Richard Saunders), Heather Klein, Jeanette Lewicki, and Dan Wolf. Gerry Tenney and others will offer workshops and the dance party is led by Bruce Bierman. The MC at both events is Reb Irwin Keller. Tickets are priced from $10 to $25.
The new CD represents over 30 years of klezmer, Yiddish, and Jewish music, in solo works, duos, and trios. The genre ranges from klezmer to Yiddish rock ’n’ roll, “and everything between.” Of special interest are first recordings of music from Moyshe Beregovski’s ethnomusicological expedition within the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Tenney has also been known as an advocate and performer of folk music with progressive and labor messages. He is a descendant of the Shpielman family of the Kolymea klezmorim from Galicia.